林中斌 部落格 / Blog Chong-Pin Lin

Two Religious Pillars Meet

 Kirsten Salyer, Times, Sept. 22, 2016

http://time.com/4504000/book-of-joy/ 

accessed Oct. 3, 2016

• 達賴與Tutu主教對話

1. 內心快樂的秘訣:勿想自己太多
2. 快樂的八支柱
   • (看得長遠，謙虛，幽默，接收)
   • (寬恕，感恩，慈悲，慷慨)

• Advice for finding inner joy. The secret? Not thinking too much about yourself.
• And they outline eight pillars of joy, divided by mind (prospective, humility, humor, acceptance) and heart (forgiveness, gratitude, compassion, generosity).

America’s Unseen Social Crisis: Men Without Work

 Nicholas Eberstadt, Times, Oct. 3, 2016

http://time.com/4504004/men-without-work/ 

accessed Oct. 3, 2016

• 作者是中斌在「美國企業研究院」的同事及好友。是他鼓勵我投稿到紐約時報“China: Nuclear Wild Card ”, The New York Times, July 27, 1988
• 這篇點到美國社會問題之一：失業的男性，非常嚴重。
• 美國國力稍退重要原因是社會失序，遠比經濟遲緩、軍費削減更值得注意

林中斌 2016.10.03

• Eberstadt was my colleague at AEI who encouraged me to publish my first oped in the U.S

Chong-Pin Lin Oct .03 2016

哈佛新生 嗑藥的比抽菸的多

聯合新聞網 2016/09/20

http://udn.com/news/story/6812/1971368

   accessed Oct 3, 2016

England’s Forgotten Muslim History

Jerrt Brotton, New York Times, Sept. 17, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/opinion/sunday/englands-forgotten-muslim-history.html 

accessed Sept 19, 2016

• 這是一篇很有意義的歷史回顧。伊莉莎白一世因為要對抗歐陸法國，西班牙，與回教奧圖曼帝國交往，影響深遠，包括「東印度公司」的成立等等。

8年來陸工資年增10.6％ 全球第一

工商時報2016/09/20

http://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20160920000739-260301

   accessed Oct 3, 2016

Why It’s Safe to Scrap America’s ICBM

 William J. Perry, New York Times, Oct. 1, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/30/opinion/why-its-safe-to-scrap-americas-icbms.html?_r=0 

accessed Oct 3, 2016

• 美前國防部部長裴利建議銷毀美國州際彈導飛彈，因為它們耗錢，危險，無必要

林中斌 Oct. 03. 2016

• Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Dr. William Perry suggest that the U.S. should scrap its ICBMs as they are costly to maintain, dangerous and not necessary.

Chong-Pin Lin Oct. 03. 2016

Rich province, poor province

 The Economist, Oct. 1, 2016

http://www.economist.com/news/china/21707964-government-struggling-spread-wealth-more-evenly-rich-province-poor-province

accessed Oct. 3, 2016

• 中國各省收入不平等已改善很多，未來是「趨同」(convergence)或「趨異」(divergence)尚無定論
• 內蒙古竟然如此富有，有如廣東、浙江、福建、山東。一個大意外。

林中斌 2016.10.03

No Happy Ending

 The Economist, Oct. 1, 2016

http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21707911-hillary-clinton-goaded-donald-trump-rash-admissions-america-remains-divided-no

accessed Oct. 3, 2016

• 美國大選無論誰勝，社會將來一定分成兩半

林中斌 2016.10.03

• Whoever wins the coming presidents election, the U.S society will be severely divided.

Chong-Pin Lin Oct. 03. 2016

The Clinton calendar

David Brooks, The New York Times, SEP 23, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/23/opinion/the-clinton-calendar.html

accessed Sep 24, 2016

•  $145 million has been spent on pro-Clinton TV and radio ads while only $4 million has been spent on pro-Trump ads.
• Trump is within two or three points of Clinton nationally and leading in a bunch of the key swing states. In Ohio by five. In Iowa by six. In Florida by one.
• Democrats and the non-college educated whites flocking to the G.O.P. Democrats do great in America’s 100 most crowded counties, but they struggle in the 3,000 less crowded ones.

The best news you don't know

Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times, SEP 22, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/opinion/the-best-news-you-dont-know.html

accessed Sep 23, 2016

• The number of people living in extreme poverty ($1.90 per person per day) has tumbled by half in two decades, and the number of small children dying has dropped by a similar proportion.
• As recently as 1981, when I was finishing college, 44 percent of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty, according to the World Bank. Now the share is believed to be less than 10 percent and falling.
•  Until the 1960s, a majority of adults were illiterate. Now 85 percent of adults worldwide are literate.
• Internationally, inequality is on the decline because of gains by the poor in places like China and India.
• As girls are educated and contraception becomes available, birthrates tumble — just as they did in the West. Indian women now average just 2.4 births.

A future haunted by ghosts of the past

SEWELL CHAN, The New York Times, SEP 22, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/23/world/europe/a-future-haunted-by-ghosts-of-the-past.html?_r=0

  accessed Sep 23, 2016

• 第四屆世界民主會議在雅典召開，結論是民主政治陷入險境。
• 會議本來要慶祝民主，卻變成「焦慮的烤問」。
• 匈牙利總理Victor Orban 2014年再度當選，擁抱“非自由式民主”(illiberal democracy)限制人民權利和自由。
• 其他類似民選政府限制人民自由包括土耳其、波蘭、俄羅斯等。
• 商業威脅民主有3方面：

       --銀行(造成金融危機)

       --媒體(高度集中化)

       --壟斷(不受管制)

Hinkley Point C nuclear power station gets government green light

ROWENA MASON & SIMON GOODLEY, The Guardian, Sep 15, 2016

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/sep/15/hinkley-point-c-nuclear-power-station-gets-go-ahead

accessed September 16, 2016

• British prime minister Theresa May is going through her learning curve on China just as her German counterpart Angela Meriel did from September 2007 when she offended Beijing by receiving Dalai Lama , to January 2008 when she made it up quietly with China.

Chong-Pin Lin September 16, 2016

• 英國首相正在走過她對北京的學習曲線。

林中斌 2016.9.16 

習近平悄悄做了一件事 暗示中國要〝變天〞

2016/09/09 新唐人

http://chinaexaminer.bayvoice.net/b5/ccpsecrets/2016/09/09/279337.htm%E4%B9%A0%E8%BF%91%E5%B9%B3%E6%82%84%E6%82%84%E5%81%9A%E4%BA%86%E4%B8%80%E4%BB%B6%E4%BA%8B-%E6%9A%97%E7%A4%BA%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E8%A6%81%E3%80%9D%E5%8F%98%E5%A4%A9%E3%80%9E.html

   accessed September 12, 2016

• 2013年2月紐約鏡報的何頻來告訴我：根據習旁邊人說，習頭5年搞"吏治",下5年搞民主。我問：不是"社會主義民主?中國特色民主？" 他說：就是民主。
  最近自M教授處得訊息：兩年以來王滬寧、汪玉凱、俞可平(2006年曾發表"民主是個好東西")召開過40多次會議，討論民主制度的優劣。
  敬請卓參。

林中斌 2-16.9.12

日本謀求改善對中關係: 未雨綢繆?

2016.8.25 “中日破冰”

2016.8.14 ”中日降溫 日相、防相不拜靖國”

2016.8.12 “中國漁船撞沉 日巡邏船馳援”

• 在中國最近昇高對釣魚台之聲勢之後，日本反而積極改善對中國關係
• 中方似乎樂於在外交上與日緩和甚至改善關係

自由時報繼續批蔡總統:

2016.8.18 “民進黨不要糟蹋了完全執政”

2016.8.15 “談蔡政府的用人”

2016.8.16 ”看瑞典回頭擁核”

2016.8.23 “賴中強:蔡的經濟大腦 全是馬政府高官”

• 自由時報4月開始批關林全任命前國民黨官員。520之後逐漸開始批蔡總統，由不指名批評變為指名批評，由”自由廣場”讀者投書變為前面版面之新聞評論。

• 批蔡議題依次數及強度排序似乎是

1. 蔡用馬高官

2. 蔡未公開否定”中華台北”

3. 蔡仍未填滿重要國安任命。「文青治國」

• 8月16日有反對民進黨廢核立場之讀者投書。
• 自由時報比之前之內容更多元化，刊載之意見也更多元化。
• 自由時報之國際版已超越其他媒體: 內容豐富超越政治。

Go home, YanKee

The Economist, August 13, 2016

• 美國在全球70多國有800個軍事基地，每年花費一千億美元。
• 帝國版圖伸得太廣，不可避免因而帶來衰退。

http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21704817-presence-american-troops-foreign-soil-growing-more-controversial-go-home

Fury Fashionable

The Economist, August 6, 2016

• 全球寵物狗時裝最領先的城市不是紐約、巴黎，而是台北。 
• 台灣一位婦女平均生1.1位嬰兒，遠低於取代率2.1。 
• 台灣年青人可能認為養狗比養小孩省事。 

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21703403-what-pampered-pooches-reveal-about-national-security-furry-fashionable

My daughter the Pole

Roger Cohen, The New York Times, August 23, 2016

• 脫歐之後英國公民紛紛申請回到祖先在歐洲的國籍。 
• “All good people agree,/ And all good people say,/ All nice people, like Us, are We/ And everyone else is They.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/23/opinion/my-daughter-the-pole.html

We did A Great Job

The New York Times, August 23, 2016

He’s the Piano Man

The Economist, AUG 6, 2016

http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21703355-why-stephen-hough-more-and-more-demand-hes-piano-man

 accessed Aug 12, 2016

• 英國目前最受歡迎的鋼琴家Stephen Hough，也是作曲家、詩人、小說家、和畫家。
• 他談到無調性音樂和傳統有調性音樂之選擇。他喜歡"有調性中偶爾扭一下"。他喜歡感動他的音樂，但是音樂要有調性，旋律發展才能"回家"。"無調性沒有'基地"，像是永遠在流浪，無家可歸，也許遊蕩就是它的目的地。
• 在下深有同感。他以家比喻有調性音樂的基地，是個人看到最貼切的說法。
• 在下常覺得無調性音樂烘托氣氛有其功能，做電影配樂頗適合。尤其是恐怖電影。但是在無調性音樂中找感動似乎很難。無調性音樂有機械性，而缺乏人性。

     呈上淺見敬請賜教。

     林中斌 2016.8.12